Reviewed: Meet Sebastian Vettel

Considering how popular the top Formula 1 drivers are across the world, it’s surprising how little of them have English biographies on them.

The only two exceptions would be Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher. However, after his much publicised successes in recent years, Sebastian Vettel has joined the oddly exclusive club.

However, his book is not much to write home about. Considering his already-illustrious career in F1, and the vast background of his junior racing career, it was severely disappointing to see this book was only 142 pages long.

A lot of this is taken up by glossy photos – some very nice ones, it has to be said. However, the text that remains is not particularly impressive. It sweeps over many important points of his career – half a paragraph is given to his collision with Mark Webber in Turkey 2010.

His domination of the 2011 season is dealt with in two pages. There is very little depth, and little to be learned for the enthusiastic F1 fan. The vaunted exclusive interview with Sebastian is less than riveting stuff, featuring questions such as “Do you live in a house or a flat” – not exactly what we were looking to know.

One interesting segment is a short but sweet interview with Giorgio Ascanelli, technical director of Toro Rosso. Here, we get a slightly oblique look at Vettel, and learn facts that we normally wouldn’t know – exactly what I want from a biography.

Unfortunately, there are few other plus points. With such little depth, it completely fails to invigorate the reader, and will leave most F1 fans frustrated.

As an F1 fan, I read through the book with a certain interest, but quickly realised that little was to come of it. For a casual fan, “Meet Sebastian Vettel” would be completely vapid and uninteresting. Either way, it’s not a book to recommend.